Trevor Bauer, a 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner, has agreed to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the California native announced his move in a YouTube video on Friday.
Bauer and the Dodgers have agreed to a three-year, $ 102 million contract that has exit options after years 1 and 2, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Bauer is expected to make $ 40 million in 2021 and $ 45 million in 2022, the sources said.
Bauer, who has a notable social media presence, appeared to mock his fate early Friday by offering a gift for a Dodgers-signed cap on his website, though he also had several brief references to the New York Mets, which were believed who was the other finalist, also on the site.
Sources told Passan that the Mets were offering a higher overall value than the Dodgers, but the Los Angeles offer will make him the highest paid player in each of the next two seasons.
The 30-year-old right-hander is the first reigning Cy Young Award winner to enter free agency since Greg Maddux in 1992.
Bauer, a first-time free agent who played last season for the Cincinnati Reds in a $ 17 million deal that was prorated to $ 6.4 million, was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball in 2020, going 5-4, ERA. of 1.73, WHIP of 0.79, 100 strikeouts and 17 walks during the season shortened by the pandemic. Opposing hitters hit .159 against him, leading all major league pitchers. In addition to the WHIP and ERA, Bauer led the National League in ERA-plus, which fits his hitter-friendly hometown stadium, and in hits allowed per nine innings (5,055) in 2020.
He turned down a one-year, $ 18.9 million qualifying offer from the Reds, who will earn a compensatory draft pick by signing with a new team. The Dodgers will lose their second-highest pick in the July amateur draft and a $ 500,000 international signing bonus allowance.
Bauer joins a Dodgers rotation that was one of the best in the majors in 2020 and now has three former Cy Young winners in Bauer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price. Last season, the Dodgers ranked first in WHIP and second in opponent’s ERA, batting average and OPS.
Bauer’s arsenal includes a variety of pitches, and he had great success with his cut fastball while throwing two shutouts in two complete games last season. According to ESPN Data, Bauer was priming hitters to knock them out in the outer half of the plate, leading the National League with 63 strikeouts while holding batters to a .145 batting average at that location.
Off the mound, Bauer has voiced opinions and criticism on everything from commissioner Rob Manfred to MLB-MLBPA negotiations and hinting that Houston Astros pitchers applied substances to baseballs to increase spin speed. In 2018, Bauer was fined for throwing a baseball off the mound over the center field fence before being kicked out of a game. In 2016, he was pulled from his opening in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series after cutting his fingertip while performing maintenance on his drone.
The Reds acquired Bauer in a trade with the Cleveland Indians on the July 2019 deadline. He made 10 starts after the deal that year, going 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA for the Reds.
In nine seasons since breaking into the majors with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, Bauer is 75-64 with 1,279 strikeouts and a 3.90 ERA. His only All-Star selection came in 2018.
Associated Press contributed to this report.